


A Clear Night Sky

by Dabchick



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Insufficient Safety Protocols, Pequod is there for like five seconds, Stargazing, Xmas Supply Drop (Metal Gear), falling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-16 21:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16502930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dabchick/pseuds/Dabchick
Summary: Kaz is #mad, takes a break for sixty god damn minutes, achieves clarity and friendship via stargazing.





	A Clear Night Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for MGS Supply Drop 93: Kaz and Quiet bonding [platonically]. "I guess she's not so bad after all"

Kazuhira Miller took it as a point of pride that all of Mother Base was under his command. He had covered every square inch of floor, over every catwalk, through every door. He had spent hours painstakingly climbing every ladder. They might have taken his limbs from him but he was damned if they were going to take his mastery over his own base.

The first time he fell, it was a bad one. His crutch slipped on the edge of a stair that was still wet from the rain, he toppled down an entire flight of stairs, and landed in a crumpled heap by a loading bay.

Kaz groaned and took a moment to assess the damage as best as he could. No broken bones, as far as he could tell. Maybe a bruised rib. It hurt like a bitch, but he always hurt these days, what was a little more pain? More concerning was the fact that no Diamond Dogs seemed to be watching this particular part of the platform. It would probably make a prime spot for invasion by a rival PF. He would have to close this breach and see if there were any like it on the other platforms. At least no one had seen him stumble and fall.

"Hmmmmm," came a quiet voice by his ear.

Kaz recoiled and reeled back, in the process smacking his head into a pipe. Kaz's ears were ringing and his vision blurred as he yelled, "Get away from me, bitch!"

Through his blurred, multiple-vision, he could see Quiet pull back an extended hand and look him over condescendingly, and then she did that gross disintegration-running-teleport thing. Good. He didn't need help from that _thing_.

Without waiting for the ringing to stop, he picked himself up and began dragging himself back up the stairs and back to his office. Tripping and getting spooked by the resident parasite leech was no excuse for falling behind. He put the whole thing out of his mind.

Until a week later, when it happened again.

This time Kaz was on a catwalk, going toward the core of R&D to review some of the new acquisitions. He didn't even slip, his knee just buckled underneath him halfway across. When his arm his the metal grating, his crutch went flying down three stories to the ground below. He didn't yell, but he did curse Cipher, the Russians, XOF, Paz, his father, and everything else in his life that led up to this point.

When he was done, he groped for the railing, yanked his torso back up off the ground, and ran headlong into a soft blob that felt suspiciously like skin.

Quiet's expression wasn't exactly a smile. As far as Kaz knew, she never smiled, at least, not while he was around. Her lips were pursed in what might have instead been pity. And she was holding out his crutch. Kaz's heart pounded loudly in his ears.

He leaned on the railing and batted the crutch away. "I don't need it," he rasped.

Quiet pushed the crutch back into his hand and Kaz could just imagine her voice saying, _don't be an idiot_.

Kaz internally debated for a moment. Which was worse? Accepting help from XOF's dirty laundry (or lack thereof), or spending three times as long getting to R&D and back to his office? In the end, he couldn't afford the productivity loss. He took a deep breath, snatched his crutch, and stalked onward without sparing her another glance.

He might have heard her infuriating humming for the rest of the day, or he might have been imagining it.

Three days later, the Boss was out completing some minor night missions that just had to get done but didn't need Kaz's immediate attention. Ocelot had barred him from so much as sniffing in the direction of the training he was doing with the intel and combat personnel. R&D was in the midst of a major project that would last twelve hours and insisted they were only to be interrupted for absolute emergencies. And by some miracle, the support and base development pers were somehow on time with everything they needed to get filed. He had gone to see if he could do some early rounds of inspections with Pequod and the other pilots, only for Pequod to suggest that he take a break for once in his life, sir, for the love of god.

So Pequod dropped him off on the roof of the tower that housed the operations room, said he'd be back in an hour to pick him up, and "accidentally" also left behind a flask that smelled strongly of the moonshine Kaz knew came from some of the S-rank intel division members.

Left to his own devices, on what was arguably the least observed location on Mother Base, Kaz downed nearly the entire flask and then sprawled out on the ground and stared at the stars. For a while, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something, no matter how many times he went over his tasks to himself. Finally, something in his mind quieted, and he just stared up at the night sky. He hadn't felt this at peace since before he lost his limbs. No, much longer than that - since before he founded Diamond Dogs. Before he founded MSF. It was a state he associated vaguely with his mother, and with the smell of the ocean - different here than in his hometown.

So when Quiet materialized above him, he couldn't even muster up the ability to be angry, he just rolled his head to look at her instead of the sky. She glanced down next to him, he nodded, she lay down next to him and looked up at the same stars he was gazing. It was like they had never fought, like they had been on the same side all along. For once in his life, Kaz just let it be. It felt amazing.

A question snuck into his consciousness. Kaz stayed silent for as long as he could, but eventually he had to ask. "Quiet," Kaz murmurred. "Why haven't you attacked us yet?"

Quiet propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him sharply.

"I mean, it's obvious you're not staying here because we're making you. And loyalty doesn't change that fast. Not even to the Boss." He let out a breath. "So why?"

Quiet stared up at the night sky again, apparently giving the question real thought. Finally she sat up and made a shrugging gesture, her arms evenly held out to her sides.

"Still weighing your options, huh?" Kaz mused. He supposed that should bother him more than it did. An unpredictable bioweapon that could easily take out everyone holding Diamond Dogs together, who hadn't decided what to do yet.

But then, hadn't he once been in the same position? Poised to kill or betray Big Boss, torn between two loyalties? Diamond Dogs was effective precisely because the Boss had some kind of charisma that made soldiers want to follow him, some kind of earnestness that convinced them he was genuine, and the dedication to lead the whole world to his dream if that's what it took.

"He's for real, you know," he told her quietly. "Snake - Big Boss. Diamond Dogs is only the beginning. He's going to make his dream real - a land where soldiers are free."

Quiet nodded - she knew.

"It sounds like a game when you say it like that, but it's not a game - not to him. We'll change the world with or without your help. But... despite how I've acted to you, you'd have a place here, at his side, if you want it."

Quiet looked at him for a long time, then lay back down next to him. The serenity returned, and Kaz couldn't help but feel that they'd just effortlessly vaulted over a hurdle that had been vexing them since they'd first met.

Kaz stared back up at the sky and listened absently to the sound of Pequod's helicopter approaching from the adjacent platform. In this moment of pure clarity, he knew she would make the right call. He was sure it would be messy and cause a lot of conflict, and he was sure he would see things differently again tomorrow morning. But he couldn't afford to keep rejecting Quiet out of some twisted sense of pride, keeping himself as the Boss's most valuable asset.

By the time Pequod started his landing, Quiet was gone again. He could still hear her humming - but a little louder, a little more friendly. The sound of an older sibling, who would lord power over you, but would come through when it mattered. The sound a bullet would make when it whistled tauntingly past you and directly into the heart of your enemy. Kaz smiled. She really did communicate effectively, when you took the time to listen.


End file.
